1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to communication networks and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for facilitating the transportation of medical images on a communication network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Radiology has been developed to perform diagnostic imaging in many areas of medicine. For example, diagnostic radiology may be used to visualize organs in the abdomen, such as the digestive system, intestines, kidneys, liver, stomach, and urinary tract, organs in the chest such as the respiratory system and lungs, the central nervous system, the heart and vascular system, soft tissue organs, and the musculoskeletal system such as bones, muscles, joints, back, spine, and neck. Diagnostic radiology may be used to detect numerous types of diseases, such as potential cancer abnormalities, bone densitometry, and many other types of diseases. Additionally, many different types of procedures use radiology to detect the internal structure of the human body. Several examples include arthrography, bone densitometry, magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography, radiology, intravenous pyelogramy, and other types of non-invasive and invasive imaging.
As technology has advanced, medical imaging has moved from traditional film-based imaging to electronic-based imaging, in which the images produced by the modalities are electronically created and stored. Over time, as the number of modalities has increased and the abilities of the modalities have increased, the amount of data associated with medical images that must be stored and transported over a communication network in the hospital environment has increased dramatically.
A hospital or other medical facility's data communication network may include various computers, servers, nodes, routers, switches, bridges, hubs, proxies, and other network devices coupled together and configured to pass data to one another. These devices will be referred to herein as “network elements.” Data is communicated through the data communication network by passing protocol data units, such as data frames, packets, cells, or segments, between the network elements by utilizing one or more communication links. A particular protocol data unit may be handled by multiple network elements and cross multiple communication links as it travels between its source and its destination over the network.
As the amount of medical image traffic on hospital networks has increased, the likelihood that a particular image will experience delay in transmission due to congestion on the network has also increased. At the same time, medical personnel are striving to perform their tasks more efficiently to reduce costs associated with medical care. For example, a radiologist may allocate 30 seconds to review a medical image and make a diagnosis from the image. When transportation of an image on the network is interrupted, the radiologist may be left without any understanding of why the image has not been delivered and/or when it will be delivered. The uncertainty attendant with the network delay or failure may prevent the medical personnel from pursuing other tasks and, hence, contributes to inefficiency.